Customer Reviews

Tiger Bay

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Of the five Saint Etienne records released in the U.S., "Tiger Bay" has to be as close to the best work this British outfit ever produced. While many fans are partial to "Fox Base Alpha" or "Good Humor," this is the CD which best combines the band's ethereal instrumental tracks with some of the most maturely crafted pop songs Cracknell/Stanley/Wiggs have created in their 10+ years together. Ironically, the band took a few years off after recording this CD and it was their final release under the American Warner Bros. label. The track list also does not feature a single song written by all three of the bandmates together. Despite this record more or less marking the end of the "early" Saint Etienne era, the individual songs have a maturity to them which suggest that this is about the best Saint Etienne could do during their first few years together. The record features perennial fan favorite "Like A Motorway," along with two of their other big British hits, "I Was Born On Christmas Day" and "Hug My Soul." Their are also some beautiful ballads written by vocalist Sarah Cracknell, including "Former Lover" and "Marble Lions" which stand alongside some of her best work as a solo artist. I think it's an essential part of any fan's Saint Etienne collection (if you have the UK edition with the bonus B-side tracks, it's a plus).

The tracklist of Tiger Bay has been altered into confusion and frustration along with its release in the different parts of Europe, Australia and the US. Be sure to get the original UK-version, highlighting the "St. Etienne by the bay-painting" on the cover. The right edition runs a powerful album "B-side" with "Cool Kids of Death", the merging 3 tracks "Western Wind", "Tankerville" "Western Wind" (part 2), and finally spinning off the eerie and near psycothic lullaby "Boy Scouts...". This will also ensure you getting the tracklist the Etiennes originally wanted for this album.

Etienne themselves think of this album as a bit too pompous and big-headed, refering to their lack of experience in arranging music for a 12-piece orchestra (this beeing their first album to feature live strings and horns). Au contraire, I say! Having listened to this album for six years, I firmly believe that a stronger approach to arranging the strings into this material would have lead to unrewarding censorship, and it would most definetely strip it of its lushfull and highly romantic countryside soundscape. OK, it's pompous, but nevertheless it allows you to hear Etienne aestetically blending europop, or premature techno if you will, with themes and instruments that clearly refer to the British ballroom-tradition. The evidence stands out in tracks such as "Urban Clearway", "Tankerville" and "Cool Kids of Death".

No it's not. But it's really good! It's certainly the best Saint Etienne album to date, and there's a lot of brilliant moments to contend with to make that statement.

"Tiger Bay" sounds like the soundtrack to a movie that was never released. The band doesn't skimp with production, and the melodies are smooth, lush and adorable. Sarah Cracknell has a voice on this album so smooth, you're in love with her by the time she hits her second syllable.

"Tiger Bay" also has a minimum of soundbytes and sample "skits" which litter albums like "Foxbase Alpha" and "So Tough." It's full, clear, uninterrupted melody - much like their most recent LP, "Good Humor." The difference is, where "Good Humor" is straight-forward pop, "Tiger Bay" is sweeping, melodramatic and lush.

Sigh.

Of all the Saint Etienne cds I own, "Tiger Bay" is by far my favorite record. It is also my first cd I own by the British indie-pop band. I bought it several years ago through my then Columbia House Music Club account. I immediately loved the often kitschy dance pop I heard on the album. The music is very infectious and upbeat. "Tiger Bay" would eventually lead me to buy more of the group's albums but none of them would be able to hold up to "Tiger Bay". The album kicks off with the killer throbbing instrumental "Urban Clearway". "Hug My Soul" has a '60s retro pop sound. "Former Lover" is a delicate, fragile ballad. The beat quickly picks up with "Like a Motorway". One of my personal favorite songs on the album is the shimmering "Pale Movie". It is also one of my favorite dance songs of all time. I just love the melodies of the song as well as Sarah's vocals. I also love the fusion of flamenco guitars with dance beats. My other favorite song on the album is "I Was Born on Christmas Day". If there was one thing that Saint Etienne had a knack for it is churning out some of the catchiest pop songs I have ever heard. Just like one of their songs, listening to "Tiger Bay" hugs my soul. I find it very comforting to listen to. I just wish pop music was more like Saint Etienne and less like Britney Spears.

For Tiger Bay, which I assumed was a nod to the Hayley Mills movie from 1959, Saint Etienne retained its heartfelt ballads made ever so loving by Sarah Cracknell's echoing waifish voice, but its upbeat tracks edged closer to conventional techno without sacrificing their uniqueness that brought them to the spotlight.

Talk about best track being the first one, though. The throbbing bass in "Urban Clearway" leads to a bass keyboard pulsing like The Miami Vice Theme before being overlayed by a higher-pitched keyboard sound. Then those sweet wistful strings kick in, giving an overall image of traffic going down a six-lane, just like the opening shots of the CHIPS TV show in the 1970's. Call it a shorter dance-techno version of Saturday Night Fever's "Manhattan Skyline," which gives the same mental image.

"Hug My Soul" is not only a brilliant song, but has the same bounce as some of their Foxbase Alpha songs, only chirpier and with some lush stringwork. Sarah Cracknell's wispy girlish vocals and the chirpy synthesizers create a bubbly, romantic, fantasy atmosphere, even before she sings: "I'll be there/to run into your arms./I'll be there./Won't you hug my soul?" Aww! There's even a marimba solo in the latter part of the song. The alternate version has an even more thundering beat that kind of muffles the lush strings.

The tempo switches to the mellow and wistful "Former Lover," with the harmonica lending to the sad regret of marrying a fool while listening to wind chines and the long lost days spent with the title character. Sarah wistfully sings: "Why on Earth/didn't I wait for you?/Now look and see who's paying." She then makes up her mind to reclaim her life, which has been stifled: "Close all/of the doors, Maisie/make sure he knows I'm gone./Close down/over the ocean/Open the doors/fresh air."

The same bass synthesizer from "Urban Clearway" returns in the upbeat "Like A Motorway." Another lost love song, the title refers to this line: "She said her life/was like a motorway/Dull, grey, and long/'til he came along." The alternate version has different synthesizers and other sounds inserted within.

"On The Shore" is an instrumental with mid-paced backbeat, with an oboe courtesy of Kate St. John, late of the Dream Academy.

"Marble Lions" is this album's sweet ballad, especially the lines "Stars are calling/goodnight, darling/Don't say good-bye," which lends that sense of longing that "Hobart Paving" from So Tough did. The lines "Let's raise a flag/that has no colours/release the sun into the empty cathedral, yeah" should demonstrate by now Sarah Cracknell's improved songwriting. The emotional swell of sound that arises makes one want to cry out joyfully or burst into tears of joy.

A Latin-sound accompanied by the Etienne burst of techno starts "Pale Movie." One of my favourite upbeat songs here, with an interesting metaphoric image: "In the bed where they make love/she's in a film on the sheets/He shows dreams like a movie/she's the softness of cinema seats." The Latin guitar that comes in the middle is nice as is the burst of symphonic strings that follow, making it like a movie score.

"Cool Kids Of Death" is a quick-paced instrumental with pulsing bass-synth that's a quicker cousin of "Stoned To Say The Least" from Foxbase Alpha. Harmonicas, wordless vocals, synth-pianos, and other instruments are heard in this number.

Then comes "I Was Born On Christmas Day," the most joyful burst of sound on Tiger Bay. Sarah trades lines with Tim Burgess over a pounding backbeat that Kylie Minogue would have gnawed both her arms to get during her Stock-Aitken-Waterman days. I imagine a couple dancing blissfully, snow falling down in nice large flakes around them and the city.

That is followed by the haunting "Boy Scouts Of America," about the conflict brewing within a man assigned to guard a girl.

The best of their first three albums, after which their sound would totally change, but that's for another review.

Of the five Saint Etienne records released in the U.S., "Tiger Bay" has to be as close to the best work this British outfit ever produced. While many fans are partial to "Fox Base Alpha" or "Good Humor," this is the CD which best combines the band's ethereal instrumental tracks with some of the most maturely crafted pop songs Cracknell/Stanley/Wiggs have created in their 10+ years together. Ironically, the band took a few years off after recording this CD and it was their final release under the American Warner Bros. label. The track list also does not feature a single song written by all three of the bandmates together. Despite this record more or less marking the end of the "early" Saint Etienne era, the individual songs have a maturity to them which suggest that this is about the best Saint Etienne could do during their first few years together. The record features perennial fan favorite "Like A Motorway," along with two of their other big British hits, "I Was Born On Christmas Day" and "Hug My Soul." There are also some beautiful ballads written by vocalist Sarah Cracknell, including "Former Lover" and "Marble Lions" which stand alongside some of her best work as a solo artist. I think it's an essential part of any fan's Saint Etienne collection (if you have the UK edition with the bonus B-side tracks, it's a plus).

I really like Tiger Bay, however I think that of St. Etienne's first three albums (the other two being FoxBase Alpha and So Tough), Tiger Bay is the weakest, but its still darned good.

While Etienne's first two albums had a definite, almost overriding 60'sish feel and charm, Tiger Bay looses a lot of that in favor of a much more contemporary sound. As a result, the album is filled with individual, single quality gems and what I think are great album tracks, but as a cohesive unit it just doesn't do it like the first two albums. Perhaps the UK version of the album, with its different track listing did a better job in this department, but the US version falls a bit short.

Anyone who appreciates well crafted pop and breathtaking female vocals should like this album. On the other hand, its definetly a pop album and not a rock / alternative work - the album doesn't really mirror popular music on American radio either at the time of its release or today - so those looking for hard driving rock should probably look elsewhere.

The album starts out with an instrumental, Urban Clearway - this is about as close to the 60's as they get on this album - parts of the song sound like they should have been used in one of those freeway chase scenes on the old TV show CHiPs. As we proceed, we hit two versions each of Hug My Soul (a really classy 60's sounding pop number) and Like a Motorway (St. Etienne's attempt at the post-modern urban song - I think the best song on the album), Pale Movie - another gem that is the only song I know of that references Demi Moore, and Marble Lions, a slow, well crafted folk/ballad type song that is the albums emotional high point.

With infectious beats and catchy, borderline-meaningless lyrics, Tiger Bay is an album that just carries me away with its incredible sound. From the aptly-named 'Urban Clearway' (it really does fit with the image of driving a sports car through the city - what a cool song!), to the sublime 'Like A Motorway' that I couldn't get out of my head for six straight hours, there isn't a song that I don't like on this album. I do miss the little 'sample' songs that were on Foxbase Alpha and So Tough. I always thought they were cute (and funny). But they really wouldn't fit here in this electronic sound they've created. Sarah Cracknell's voice is wonderful, and the music is great. Long live Saint Etienne.

This version (The American version) has ten original songs, two remixes and "I Was Born On Christmas Day." The import version has fifteen original songs which show a wider range of musical creativity, although "I Was Born On Christmas Day" is missing. Both versions show the band focusing on their tunesmithing and tossing aside the soundscapes that (imho) mar much of "Foxbase Alpha" and "So Tough."

The Import/English release is the preferred version, but the American release will do well in your CD player. I own both, so I know.

What makes this album great is that everything works together so well. Most of the songs are dance-oriented, with a tight drum-machine dance beat, but there are some slow slongs as well.

What I really like are Sarah Cracknell's breathy vocals, which are heavenly and contrast very well with the bass and drums. The songs are still pop songs in composition and work very well, but you can also hear influences from various other styles such as drums&bass and techno, and perhaps some early New Order.

This album is more refined than "Foxbase Alpha," and is one of my favorites.